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Mayor Mitch Landrieu for a second term: Editorial

Mitch Landrieu.jpg

Mayor Mitch Landrieu described his 2014 budget proposal as the "will of the people" as it increases funding for the police and fire departments, adds $1 million to the recreation department, bolsters the city's battle against blight and includes $65 million in street repairs through the sale of bonds.
(NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune archives)

The grand opening Friday of Circle Food Store, the landmark 7th Ward grocery store at Claiborne and St. Bernard avenues, is emblematic of the difference four years and new leadership can make in a city. More than five feet of water poured into the store after the levees broke during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Owner Dwayne Boudreaux struggled for years to get the resources he needed to rebuild.

Many people and agencies ultimately helped him reach the moment Friday when Circle Food's doors opened again to customers. But Mr. Boudreaux said the process was jumpstarted by a $1 million loan in 2012 from the city's Fresh Food Retailer Initiative.

The initiative is a partnership between Mayor Mitch Landrieu's office and Hope Enterprise Corp., with each putting up $7 million.

Mayor Landrieu can point to numerous such initiatives as evidence that he fulfilled his promise to voters four years ago to get the city's moribund recovery on track and to provide the leadership New Orleans needed so badly.

His list of accomplishments is impressive: Nearly $400 million in new funding from FEMA for street repairs; $100 million in state and federal funding for primary care clinics; a $52 million mortgage program for first-time homebuyers that has helped 500 families so far; funding to rebuild a $130 million hospital in eastern New Orleans. There is a lengthy list of parks and playgrounds his administration has reopened: Joseph M. Bartholomew Municipal Golf Course in Pontchartrain Park, Comiskey Park in Mid-City, Sam Bonart Playground in the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Roch Park, to name a few.

All newly elected mayors lay out a grand vision for the city, but it is rare when they can point to results the way Mayor Landrieu can after four years. His record is more impressive considering the mess he inherited from the Nagin administration, including a $79 million budget deficit.

That is not to suggest that every problem in New Orleans has been solved in the past four years. There are continuing challenges, particularly with public safety. Murders in the city fell from 193 in 2012 to 155 in 2013, a reduction of 20 percent and the lowest point in decades. That is a good sign, but New Orleans' murder rate is still high compared with other cities. And the drop in murders came during a year that saw increases in other crimes, according to statistics from the first three quarters.

But Mayor Landrieu's holistic approach to crime is promising. Under the NOLA for Life umbrella, his administration is employing strategies to break up gangs, intervene in violent neighborhoods to prevent crimes, clean up blight and give young people better options.

He promises to continue those efforts and to remain focused on reforming the New Orleans Police Department, which is under federal consent decree. He also is moving to get back to 1,600 police officers, with 150 recruits to begin training this year. Continuing to improve and shore up the department is essential.

Mayor Landrieu was able to get important reforms to the firefighters' pension system and to the Sewerage & Water Board and launched $1.1 billion in improvements to the city's aging sewer and water systems.

He has taken a hard-charging approach to governing the city in his first term, and some detractors complain that he can be brusque. But many New Orleanians are likely to be more focused on the fact that their streets are freshly paved, the blighted house next door has been torn down and the park down the street has new equipment and basketball courts.

Mayor Landrieu took office at a pivotal moment in New Orleans history -- nearly five years after the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the federally built levee system.

City government is more effective and innovative today, and its budget is balanced. Water and sewer and other core services are being shored up. The city is chipping away at blight, which helps make neighborhoods safer. Private investors and entrepreneurs have been attracted by the energy in New Orleans.

The next mayoral term will take New Orleans to its 300th anniversary in 2018. Mayor Landrieu has a compelling vision for what the city can be by then. As he put it in his State of the City address last May: "a city for the ages" with a world-class airport, a thriving biomedical district and peaceful neighborhoods.

The mayor unveiled designs for the new $828 million airport Thursday, which includes two concourses, a new hotel, 2,000 parking spaces, stores and restaurants. As with so many of the city's needs, this project has long been talked about. Mayor Landrieu, though, seems to have overcome the political, environmental and financial difficulties that have stymied the project in the past.

For his ability to get things done, for his vision and for his devotion to making New Orleans the best version of itself, we recommend Mayor Landrieu for a second term.